Category Archives: Parks & Gardens

Floralia Brussels 2013

Castles, Parks & Gardens 3 Comments

FloraliaBrussels-972Readers of Discovering Belgium will know that every year I promote Floralia Brussels and strongly suggest that for people living in Belgium it’s much more environmentally-friendly to visit this flower show than drive the 3 hours to the more famous Keukenhof in the Netherlands. This year it’s the 10th edition of Floralia Brussels, which is held on the grounds and in the greenhouses of the Castle of Groot-Bijgaarden between April 5 to May 12, 2013. Over one and a half million tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and grape hyacinths have been planted under the old trees of the 14-hectare park, providing a wonderful display. It includes 400 varieties of tulips, some of which have not yet received a name.

In addition, you will discover an exhibition of floral arrangements and decorative plants in the greenhouses, incorporating more than 10,000 flowers from various flower markets throughout Europe. There’s also an orchid show in the chapel, a surprise in the tower, and bulbs can be purchased at the entrance to the castle.

Entrance costs 12 EUR for adults, 5 EUR for children (6-14). It’s open every day from 10 am until 6 pm. Address is Castle of Groot-Bijgaarden, Is. Van Beverenstraat 5, 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden

Check out this post for some lovely photos of last year’s exhibition.

How to get there:

The easiest is probably to take the train to Groot-Bijgaarden station and then walk up Brusselsstraat to Isidoor Van Beverenstraat where the castle is. It’s a distance of about 800 metres which should take you about 10 minutes.

Alternatively take bus 136 from Brussels Zuid and get off at Groot-Bijgaarden Kerk and walk about 200 metres. Here’s a bus 136 timetable: De Lijn 136

Feed – and count – your garden birds!

Parks & Gardens 3 Comments
Blue tit

Blue tit

Today’s post is a little different to normal. It’s not about Discovering Belgium but about Discovering Belgium’s Birds! During the weekend of February 2 and 3, 2013, birdwatchers across Belgium will be taking part in the annual census of garden birds. It’s organised by the Flemish nature conservation society Natuurpunt and its French-speaking equivalent Natagora, and the statistics gathered give a useful picture of the current status of garden birds in Belgium. For example, the information can help ecologists spot a declining species, and take the first steps to aid recovery.

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Floralia Brussels: A review

Parks & Gardens 1 Comment

(For Floralia Brussels 2013, click here.)

I’ve posted earlier on the wonderful Floralia Brussels exhibition, the spring flower show held on the grounds and in the greenhouses of the Castle of Groot-Bijgaarden (this year’s event is now closed). Regular ‘Discovering Belgium’ reader Wendy Deyell went to the exhibition, and has shared some of her beautiful photos. Enjoy!

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Discovering Durbuy

Castles, Guest blogger, Parks & Gardens, Small Towns, Wallonia 1 Comment

Topiary park DurbuyGuest blogger Masha reports …

Known as the smallest town in the world, Durbuy is also one of the prettiest. Due to its picturesque location on the banks of the Ourthe River, in the Belgian province of Luxemburg, the town became a pleasant holiday resort. This small but at the same time enchanting place has a lot to offer to visitors. Ironically, the smallest town on earth has the largest topiary park with more than 30,000 square feet of impressive animal and human forms. For those of you who prefer taking pictures, there is an excellent spot at the top of the cliff with a magnificent view over the town and the River Ourthe.

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Kalmthout Arboretum

Flanders, Open Day, Parks & Gardens Leave a comment

Covering 12 hectares and with a collection of over 7,000 rare trees and shrubs and many more perennials, Kalmthout Arboretum to the north of Antwerp has become known worldwide and is well worth a visit at any time of the year. What I particularly like about it is its wildness. It’s full of nooks and crannies with surprising sub-collections, and also a couple of wildlife-friendly pools. There’s also a shop with a special children’s department, a café, and a garden center. Continue reading →

Coloma Rose Garden, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw

Castles, Flanders, Museums, Parks & Gardens 1 Comment

Last Friday (July 15), the rain stopped raining and the sun started shining, so Liz and I quickly made arrangements to go out for the day with a couple of good friends. Our destination was the Coloma Rose Garden in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. We were not disappointed. With its impressive displays of more than 3,000 varieties of roses from 26 countries, Coloma is one of the most extensive rose gardens in Europe. You can probably find every type of rose on the planet there: antique roses, the most recent hybrids, climbing roses, rambling roses and bush roses. Continue reading →

Annevoie Gardens

Castles, Parks & Gardens, Rivers & Canals, Wallonia Leave a comment

My first thought on entering Annevoie Gardens was “I wonder how many water pumps are used here?” You’d probably ask the same question, as the gardens are filled with fountains, jets and cascades, which surely – you would think – need  numerous heavy-duty, submersible pumps? However, to my surprise, I discovered that everything works entirely naturally, without any mechanical or electrical intervention.

Beautiful - and all without a single electric pump!

The gardens’ designer, Charles-Alexis de Montpellier, a local iron merchant, clearly knew what he was doing when he started creating Annevoie Gardens in 1758. His first task was to dig a 400-metre-long canal at the highest point of his 28-hectare grounds, and fill it with water from the nearby Fonteny spring. After that he constructed a complex network of inter-connecting underground channels running from the canal. It was then a “simple” matter of excavating about twenty pools and ponds and adorning them with over fifty fountains, cascades and waterfalls. It took him nearly twenty years to finish, but by 1776 Annevoie Gardens was complete, and has remained functional ever since. And that’s no exaggeration – the water has been flowing non-stop for 230 years and continues throughout the year, even in the rare occurrence of a dry Belgian summer. Continue reading →

Leuven Botanical Garden

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The Leuven Botanical Garden may be one of the smallest botanical gardens in Belgium, but it’s definitely one of the most charming. It’s also the oldest botanical garden in Belgium, dating back to 1738. It was created by the University of Leuven as a herbal garden for its medical students.

What I like about it is that it’s small enough to cover in an hour or two; in other words, on your way back from somewhere else, or after an exhausting morning in the shopping centre. It’s well laid out, and easily accessible with wheelchairs and children’s buggies.

Children will probably find the fish ponds, vegetable gardens, composting area and beehives interesting, as well as the tropical hot-house with its impressive banana trees, coconut trees and coffee bushes. Outside is a fine specimen of a Kentucky coffee tree. Although its roasted seeds were used as a substitute for coffee in times of poverty, they were found to be poisonous in large quantities!

The garden is located at 30 Kapucijnenvoer, 3000 Leuven and is open every day from May to September from 09.00 to 20:00. Admission is free.

FLORALIA BRUSSELS

Castles, Guest blogger, Parks & Gardens 1 Comment

For Floralia Brussels 2013: click here.

Guest blogger: Martine Kinzinger.

“FLORALIA BRUSSELS” is the spring flower show held on the grounds and in the greenhouses of the Castle of Groot-Bijgaarden. It’s the 8th edition of this annual event. Over one and a half million tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and grape hyacinths have been planted under the old trees of the 14-hectare park of the castle, as well as 400 varieties of tulips.

You will discover a breathtaking exhibition of floral arrangements and decorative plants in the greenhouses. More than 10,000 flowers from various flower markets in Europe are brought in each week. The chapel and the tower are also decked out with wonderful flower arrangements. Tulips, orchids and other bulbs can be purchased at the entrance to the castle.

This is a great day out for the whole family.“FLORALIA BRUSSELS” is open from April 6th until May 6th 2012, every day from 10:00 until 18:00. Tickets cost €10 for adults, € 5 for children (6-14). More details at www.floralia-brussels.be.

Domaine Solvay, La Hulpe

Castles, Country Walks, Forests, Parks & Gardens, Wallonia 12 Comments

Domaine Solvay has it all: a beautiful park, mysterious forests, hidden valleys, extensive lakes, a fascinating château and even a farmhouse with an art collection. And, on warmer days anyway, the inevitable vans selling waffles and ice-creams. If travelling by car, you can park outside the gates on the Chaussée de Bruxelles, just north of the village of La Hulpe. By public transport, bus 366 goes from Ixelles to Court St.Etienne; get off at Etangs Solvay.

The Château de La Hulpe was built in 1842

The centrepiece is the Château de La Hulpe, which looks like it’s been airlifted in from the Loire Valley, but was actually built here by the Marquis of Béthune in 1842. At the end of the 19th century, wealthy Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay acquired the property. In 1968 the Solvay family donated the castle and park to the Belgian government, although only the grounds, not the castle itself, are accessible to the public.

But what grounds! Enjoy the rolling lawns and the views over the lakes before heading into the forest. Here, native beech, oak and birch mingle with more exotic species like ginkgo, sequoia and the black locust tree, many of which are helpfully labelled for ease of identification.

Worth checking out are the 36-meter high Obelisk and the Belvedere. The latter is reached by walking up 140 steps; a task I underwent at my guidebook’s promise of the breathtaking view at the top. Unfortunately, these words were penned a long time ago. Today, the trees obscure the view completely, but I’m sure the exercise did me good.

Discover the works of Belgian artist and sculptor Jean-Michel Folon

If you take a circular walk around the grounds, halfway around you will come across the Ferme du Château de La Hulpe. It ceased to be a working farm in 1971 and now houses 300 works of the Belgian painter and sculptor Jean-Michel Folon, who died in October 2005. Folon lived nearby as a child, and was a frequent visitor to the park, which he described as “the garden with the thousand rhododendrons.”

For the kids – Just listen! In the forest, switch off your mobile phone, unplug your iPod, and listen to the sounds of nature. At first you will hear nothing, but keep listening – it takes a while for your ears to tune in. You will become aware of the louder sounds first: ducks, crows, a dog maybe. Keep concentrating and you will pick up the fainter sounds: great tits squabbling in the bushes, a woodpecker tapping for insects. Finally, if you can pick out the goldcrest’s high-pitched call, or a shrew squeaking in the leaves, you will have done very well indeed.

(First published in The Bulletin, May 2006)